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Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

Modesto native comes from opera halls of Europe for a Manteca show

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A Modesto native who has sung in the great opera houses of Europe will perform Sunday in the Manteca Kindred Arts Concert Association series.

Alexis Magaró was the leading soprano soloist at the Opera of Halle, Germany, and has performed in Austria, Italy, France and the Czech Republic. Her favorite roles include the title character in "La Traviata" and Tatiana in "Eugene Onegin."

She's won several international singing contests, including placing first in the Metropolitan Opera auditions and getting a special mention in the Maria Callas International Competition.

For her Manteca engagement, Magaró will sing a one-hour recital featuring works by Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Manuel de Falla, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy and W.A. Mozart. Ron Brickman, director of the Mother Lode Friends of Music Series, will serve as accompanist.

"I had a lot of trouble putting this program together," she said in a phone interview from Chicago, where she recently relocated from Paris. "I didn't want to do something that would be too boring for the audience, but on the other hand, I wanted to do things that are musically rewarding for me."

She thinks she has found a happy medium by including melodic, accessible pieces, as well as those more challenging for audiences.

"There's a lot of beautiful music on the program," she said. "There are a lot of beautiful texts. I hope it will be interesting for the public."

After living more than 30 years in Europe, Magaró no longer sounds American and has a cosmopolitan accent that she calls "mid-Atlantic." It's strange to learn that she lived until seventh grade in Modesto.

She started singing in the choir at John Muir School and was inspired by her two older sisters, who sang in the choir at Downey High.

Magaró originally studied English and Italian literature at the University of Santa Cruz but switched to music after some family encouragement. Her mother told her she should pursue music after she stumbled on to a recording of Magaró's singing. Before then, Magaró was afraid to pursue her dream of performing opera.

"I felt a little bit validated," she said. "It's not just my imagination that I have a special inclination for this."

Rocio Villegas contributed to this report.